If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.

The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it. (21)

I always encourage them to practice in a way that will help them go back to their own tradition and get re-rooted. If they succeed at at becoming reintegrated, they will be an important instrument...

Bhikkhus, the teaching is merely a vehicle to describe the truth. Don’t mistake it for the truth itself. A finger pointing at the moon is notthe moon. The finger is needed to know where to...

non-paper elements,” like mind, logger, sunshine and so on, there will be no paper. As thin as this sheet of paper is, it contains everything in the universe in it.

Just by breathing deeply on your anger, you will calm it. You are being mindful of your anger, not suppressing it…touching it with the energy of mindfulness. You are not denying it at all. When...

Feelings, whether of compassion or irritation, should be welcomed, recognized, and treated on an absolutely equal basis; because both are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating is me. The mustard greens I am planting are...

Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we do and see. Every breath we take, every step we take, can be filled with peace, joy, and serenity. The question is...

Please don’t wait until the doctors tell you that you are going to have a baby to begin to take care of it. It is already there. Whatever you are, whatever you do, your baby...

If we take something to be the truth, we may cling to it so much that when the truth comes and knocks on our door, we won’t want to let it in.

We can’t wait to be happy until we remove one hundred percent of suffering. That moment will never exist.

We have to establish ourselves in the here and now in order to truly eat. All through the meal, we should really be here with the people at the table. As we chew our food,...

The present moment is the substance with which the future is made. Therefore, the best way to take care of the future is to take care of the present moment. What else can you do?

To take good care of ourselves, we must go back and take care of the wounded child inside of us. You have to practice going back to your wounded child every day. You have to...

Letting go takes a lot of courage sometimes. But once you let go, happiness comes very quickly. You won’t have to go around search for it.

Mindful living is an art. You do not have to be a monk or living in a monastery to practice mindfulness. You can practice it anytime, while driving your car or doing housework. Driving in...

It is said that God has created man in his own image. But it may be that humankind has created God in the image of humankind.

If you do not know how to take care of yourself, and the violence in you, then you will not be able to take care of others. You must have love and patience before you...

Being vegetarian here also means that we do not consume dairy and egg products, because they are products of the meat industry. If we stop consuming, they will stop producing. Only collective awakening can create...

Whether we have happiness or not depends on the seeds in our consciousness. If our seeds of compassion, understanding, and love are strong, those qualities will be able to manifest in us. If the seeds...

From ‘Creating True Peace’ by Thich Nhat HanhTo better understand the practise of protection, please study the Five Mindfulness Trainings in Chapter 3, particularly the third, sexual responsibility. By practising the Third Mindfulness Training, we...

Love has no meaning without understanding

The son needs the father to have access to his source, and the father needs the son to have access to the future and the infinite.

*Breathing in, I know this is my in-breath.Breathing out, I know this is my out-breath.*It’s very simple, but very effective. When we bring our attention to our in-breath and our out-breath, we stop thinking of...

Mindfulness is like that—it is the miracle which can call back in a flash our dispersed mind and restore it to wholeness so that we can live each minute of life.

We often think of peace as the absence of war, that if powerful countries would reduce their weapon arsenals, we could have peace. But if we look deeply into the weapons, we see our own...

Anywhere we go, we will have our self with us; we cannot escape ourselves.

To dwell in the here and now does not mean you never think about the past or responsibly plan for the future. The idea is simply not to allow yourself to get lost in regrets...

If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today. But that is the most that hope can do for us – to make some hardship lighter. When I think deeply...

When you begin to see that your enemy is suffering, that is the beginning of insight.

Birth is okay and death is okay, if we know that they are only concepts in our mind. Reality transcends both birth and death.

When you are a young person, you are like a young creek, and you meet many rocks, many obstacles and difficulties on your way. You hurry to get past these obstacles and get to the...

Only this actual moment is life.

I vow to ingest only items that preserve well-being, peace, and joy in my body and my consciousness… Practicing a diet is the essence of this precept. Wars and bombs are the products of our...

The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don’t wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy.

We talk about social service, service to the people, service to humanity, service to others who are far away, helping to bring peace to the world – but often we forget that it is the...

The person who suffers most in this world is the person who has many wrong perceptions, and most of our perceptions are erroneous.

Guarding knowledge is not a good way to understand. Understanding means to throw away your knowledge.

If you suffer and make your loved ones suffer, there is nothing that can justify your desire.

I have lost my smile,but don’t worry.The dandelion has it.

We know very well that we have ancestors. But our ancestors are not only human. We have animal ancestors; we have plant ancestors; and we have mineral ancestors. Our human ancestors are still very young....

If we practice walking meditation, we walk just for walking, not to arrive.

Mindful consumption is the object of this precept. We are what we consume. If we look deeply into the items that we consume every day, we will come to know our own nature very well....

The secret of Buddhism is to remove all ideas, all concepts, in order for the truth to have a chance to penetrate, to reveal itself.

To stop the drug traffic is not the best way to prevent people from using drugs. The best way is to practice the Fifth Precept and to help others practice. Consuming mindfully is the intelligent...

Mindfulness is the awareness of what is going on in us and around us in the present moment. It requires stopping, looking deeply, and recognizing both the uniqueness of the moment and its connection to...